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Arthur St. Clair Letter to James Ross

Om74_1146695_004

The Hermitage Jan y 21 st [superscript] 1789
[tear] Sir
[written in different hand]1789
[written in different hand] Jan 21
You will find enclosed a Petition to Congress [written above line] from two Gentlemen
of this Instance in behalf of themselves and the other Inhabitants which
I will request the favour of you to present to the Senate. It came
to my hands time enough [illegible crossed out] for the last Session, but I thought
it unnecessary to send it [tear] rd then, presuming that no business that
did not relate to that for [tear] cy was specially called together
would be taken up. The Representation they make is true, and several
Petitions on the Subject have, at different times, been presented to Congress
but nothing, as far as I know has been done in them:_ very nearly the
whole of the Bottom between [illegible] and Cahokia, having the __
Mississippi on one side and a high ridge of Rocks on the other, in which the
Donations to the ancient Inhabitants was directed to be laid out, is covered
by old Grants, in consequence of which none of them have as yet been assigned
to them, for I had no power to change the location, and there they would not __
[tear] these circumstances have been repeatedly mentioned by me
[tear] State as well as by the People to Congress I do not
[tear] nences that would follow them the People being
[tear] aying them out on the [illegible] River, and it would
[tear] give a little spring to that Town which has been going back
ever since the Country fell into the hands of America.
The more I reflect upon the situation and circumstanc
es of the western Territory the more I am convinced of the necessity of dividing
it, and as soon as may be, into different Districts with separate Governments
Some Person it is true may succeed me that may be more capable of managing
it in its present form; but you will pardon me if I doubt whether one will
be found who will take more pains than I have done, __ _the single circum-
stance however of its extent is alone sufficient to render it almost impossible
but when the considerations [tear] there are no roads thro it_ that there
is no other means of Communication but by the Rivers, at some Seasons
extremely [illegible], at at others very difficult from the Lowness of the Waters,
and usually [crossed out] generally [written above] incapable of being used in the Winter _ that the People in some
parts of it are heterogeneous mixture from all Countries and many of them,
as is the case in all new Countries acquiring, requiring both the immediate &
and hand of Government _ that [word crossed out] all the principal Settlements differ from
each other as [word crossed out] very [written above] much as possible [crossed out as. . .possible], the manners and habits of the Inhabitants being
[tear] dant, it will be evident that it is next to impossible to keep the
[tear] le orders to which may be added that it is a frontier to the
[tear] one side and to the [illegible] on the other _

The Hermitage Jan y 21 st [superscript] 1789
[tear] Sir
[written in different hand]1789
[written in different hand] Jan 21
You will find enclosed a Petition to Congress [written above line] from two Gentlemen
of this Instance in behalf of themselves and the other Inhabitants which
I will request the favour of you to present to the Senate. It came
to my hands time enough [illegible crossed out] for the last Session, but I thought
it unnecessary to send it [tear] rd then, presuming that no business that
did not relate to that for [tear] cy was specially called together
would be taken up. The Representation they make is true, and several
Petitions on the Subject have, at different times, been presented to Congress
but nothing, as far as I know has been done in them:_ very nearly the
whole of the Bottom between [illegible] and Cahokia, having the __
Mississippi on one side and a high ridge of Rocks on the other, in which the
Donations to the ancient Inhabitants was directed to be laid out, is covered
by old Grants, in consequence of which none of them have as yet been assigned
to them, for I had no power to change the location, and there they would not __
[tear] these circumstances have been repeatedly mentioned by me
[tear] State as well as by the People to Congress I do not
[tear] nences that would follow them the People being
[tear] aying them out on the [illegible] River, and it would
[tear] give a little spring to that Town which has been going back
ever since the Country fell into the hands of America.
The more I reflect upon the situation and circumstanc
es of the western Territory the more I am convinced of the necessity of dividing
it, and as soon as may be, into different Districts with separate Governments
Some Person it is true may succeed me that may be more capable of managing
it in its present form; but you will pardon me if I doubt whether one will
be found who will take more pains than I have done, __ _the single circum-
stance however of its extent is alone sufficient to render it almost impossible
but when the considerations [tear] there are no roads thro it_ that there
is no other means of Communication but by the Rivers, at some Seasons
extremely [illegible], at at others very difficult from the Lowness of the Waters,
and usually [crossed out] generally [written above] incapable of being used in the Winter _ that the People in some
parts of it are heterogeneous mixture from all Countries and many of them,
as is the case in all new Countries acquiring, requiring both the immediate &
and hand of Government _ that [word crossed out] all the principal Settlements differ from
each other as [word crossed out] very [written above] much as possible [crossed out as. . .possible], the manners and habits of the Inhabitants being
[tear] dant, it will be evident that it is next to impossible to keep the
[tear] le orders to which may be added that it is a frontier to the
[tear] one side and to the [illegible] on the other _